The death of the lovers | We will have beds filled with light perfumes

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by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867)

Translation © by Peter Low

La mort des amants

(Sung text for setting by G. Charpentier)

See original

Language: French (Français)

Our translations: ENG ITA SPA

Nous aurons des lits pleins d'odeurs légères,
Des divans profonds comme des tombeaux,
Et d'étranges fleurs sur des étagères,
Écloses pour nous sous des cieux plus beaux.

Usant à l'envi leurs chaleurs dernières,
Nos deux cœurs seront deux vastes flambeaux,
Qui réfléchiront leurs doubles lumières
Dans nos deux esprits, ces miroirs jumeaux.

Un soir fait de rose et de bleu mystique,
Nous échangerons un éclair unique,
Comme un long sanglot, tout chargé d'adieux ;

Et plus tard un Ange, entr'ouvrant les portes,
Viendra ranimer, fidèle et joyeux,
Les miroirs ternis et les flammes mortes.

Composition:

Gustave Charpentier

Les Fleurs du Mal

Text Authorship:

by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "La mort des amants", written 1851, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 6. La Mort, no. 121, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Peter Low) , "The death of the lovers", copyright © 2001, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
ENG English (Cyril Meir Scott) , "The Death of the Lovers", appears in The Flowers of Evil, London, Elkin Mathews, first published 1909
GER German (Deutsch) (Stefan George) , "Der Tod der Liebenden", appears in Die Blumen des Bösen, in Der Tod, Berlin: Bondi, first published 1901
ITA Italian (Italiano) (Ferdinando Albeggiani) , "La morte degli amanti", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
POL Polish (Polski) (Bronisława Ostrowska) , "Śmierć Kochanków", Kraków, first published 1911
SPA Spanish (Español) (Victor Torres) , "La muerte de los amantes", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 94

The death of the lovers

(Sung text translation for setting by G. Charpentier)

See original

Language: English after the French (Français)

We will have beds filled with light perfumes,
divans as deep as tombs,
and displays of exotic flowers
which have bloomed for us under fairer skies.

Vying to use up their final heat
our hearts will be two huge torches
reflecting their double light
in the twin mirrors of our two spirits.

On an evening that is all mystic blue and pink
we will exchange a single lightning-flash
like one long sob, laden with farewells;

And later, an angel, nudging open the doors,
will enter, faithful and joyous, to revive
the tarnished mirrors and dead flames.

Text Authorship:

Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2001 by Peter Low, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
Contact: licenses@email.lieder.example.net

Based on:

a text in French (Français) by Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867), "La mort des amants", written 1851, appears in Les Fleurs du mal, in 6. La Mort, no. 121, Paris, Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, first published 1857
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This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 14
Word count: 96